Amazon Lifts Veil on Seasonal Hiring Number

Amazon.com Inc. has made it an annual tradition to bulk up on workers at its shipping centers for the holidays. But the online retailer has made its exact hiring rate for temporary employees during the busy period a mystery—until now.

Late Monday, Amazon announced it’s hiring more than 50,000 seasonal workers at its U.S. fulfillment centers. That’s a serious addition, even if temporary, for a company that reported having a total of about 69,000 full and part-time employees worldwide as of the end of June.

Amazon says it now has more than 20,000 full time employees at U.S. fulfillment centers. It wasn’t immediately clear why Amazon is opting to start disclosing its temporary seasonal hiring at those facilities now. A company spokeswoman said the total disclosed for this year marks an increase from last year, but declined to be more specific.

Investors appear to be taking it as a bullish indicator for holiday sales, bidding up Amazon’s shares 0.1% to $244.46 on Tuesday afternoon.

In a series of deals struck in several states, Amazon has been winning temporary reprieves from having to collect state sales tax in exchange for pledges to build shipping centers and add thousands of jobs to local economies – catnip to most local politicians.

The shipping center expansion also plays into Amazon’s plans to cut the time necessary to ship goods to online buyers.

But it’s also been weighing on Amazon’s profitability. The Seattle company has said it plans to open 18 new fulfillment centers this year, and as of the second quarter had opened six of those. Amazon has said it had a total of 69 fulfillment centers at the end of last year.